BLRD Research Career Scientist Award Application

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Project Summary/Abstract This application requests the appointment of Dr. Wendy Bollag, a Research Physiologist at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia and a Professor of Physiology at the affiliate institution (Augusta University), to the position of Research Career Scientist. In the past five years, Dr. Bollag has been productive, publishing 29 peer-reviewed articles and more than 10 invited reviews, book chapters and commentaries, with 52 peer-reviewed articles and 26 invited reviews, book chapters and commentaries in the past 10 years. Dr. Bollag’s research in cell signaling seeks to understand the role of particular signaling molecules in various cell processes; this research has led to interesting findings in her systems of interest, keratinocytes of the skin epidermis and zona glomerulosa cells of the adrenal gland, as well as extension of this knowledge to collaborative projects in other systems, including corneal wound healing. In the case of the skin and the adrenal gland, Dr. Bollag is interested in determining the signaling pathways that underlie keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation to form the epidermis under normal and pathological conditions, as well as those that regulate aldosterone production in the adrenal zona glomerulosa. In the past 10 years the Bollag laboratory has made significant progress in projects examining these two processes, as evidenced by the many publications for which she is the senior author. Dr. Bollag has also received as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI three National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 awards, one R29 award and one R21 award, five VA Merit Awards (three to support her work in skin, one to fund studies in the adrenal gland and one to support a new study in the cornea), a VA Research Career Scientist Award, two VA Shared Equipment Evaluation Program (ShEEP) awards and multiple state and intramural grant awards. She also recently received, as Contact Co-PI, an NIH T35 training award (with Co-PI, Dr. Carlos Isales) to recruit medical students from three Puerto Rican medical schools to perform summer aging research. She has also served as a Co-Investigator on several awards, including an NIH P01 Program Project Award with her colleague and collaborator of approximately 35 years, Dr. Isales, and as the Lead Mentor on a Department of Defense mentoring partnership award to Albany State University. Last year she received the Augusta University Research Institute Distinguished Investigator Award; she was also invited to give a symposium presentation at the 2019 annual meeting of Experimental Biology. This year she was invited to present in the Blank Forum at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology (which was unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic) and to give a named lecture at the Oklahoma Center of Neuroscience (postponed until 2021 because of COVID-19), indicating that she is recognized for her research. Finally, Dr. Bollag is an individual who is engaged with the community and involved in giving back in service at the institutional, local and national levels. Thus, she mentors junior colleagues, including Dr. Debra Irsik, a recent VA Career Development Award recipient, provides educational service to the affiliate institution (for which she has received numerous awards), serves as a reviewer for multiple journals and participates in review panels for several national and international funding agencies, including the VA. Currently, Dr. Bollag is an Editorial Consultant for the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, the highest impact journal in the field of dermatology research, a Senior Editor for the Journal of Endocrinology and the Journal of Molecular Endocrinology and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Lipid Research and Molecular Pharmacology. Thus, Dr. Bollag is an established investigator and a recognized mentor, who would adeptly fulfill the responsibilities of the Research Career Scientist designation.